It’s hard to believe in Santa Claus when you can’t believe in your own mom and dad.

Members and staff at the Redmond Athletic Club (RAC), 8709 161st Ave. NE, are helping to bring holiday hope to kids whose lives have been shattered by sexual abuse, domestic violence or neglect. The RAC lobby is filled with gifts for the wards of the Ryther Child Center in Lake City, a residential campus which provides therapeutic care for children who’ve been moved from one foster home to another, without successful placement.

Many of these youngsters have severe behavioral issues, a sad byproduct of the burdens that have been handed to them by adults who were supposed to protect them. Eighty percent of their parents are addicted to drugs or alcohol, unfit to take care of themselves, much less their children.

“We have wonderful league members who are advocates for the kids here,” explained Robin Bennett, development director for the Ryther Child Center.

One of those advocates is Dee Dee Reisenauer, a personal trainer at the RAC.

Reisenauer said she is part of an “Eastside, off-campus league of gals who do fundraisers and have a shop in Magnolia, sort of like Goodwill, to help kids.”

She knows that many people prefer not to give cash donations because they’re worried about where the money will go. But by participating in a “giving tree” project at the RAC, kind-hearted folks have chosen tags with the specific wishes of a lonely boy or girl and shopped for what he or she need or want most.

The kids’ wishes have been astonishingly simple and therefore, heartbreaking.

“One little guy wanted a fish,” Reisenauer said. “A little girl wanted seeds to plant a garden. Some kids asked for underwear or socks.”

Bennett pointed out that the season between Thanksgiving and the New Year is especially painful for these kids who “either still miss their family, in spite of what they have put them through, or have traumatic memories of fighting and drinking in their homes. … They have a lot of anger, loss, grief issues and huge attachment issues. One moment they’re loved, another moment they’re taken away.”

The goal of the Ryther Child Center is not to permanently house them but to help them heal and get them ready for less restrictive homes. The staff at Ryther manages their treatment plans and offers survivors’ groups so they can talk about their feelings. They also take the children to programs such as the Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center, which is now in Woodinville and has purchased property to expand in Redmond.

All year, league members such as Reisenauer provide birthday cakes and presents for the children at Ryther and “collect stuff so that each kid can buy three things for a foster parent or other adult (who is significant to them),” said Bennett.

Some kids have no one to buy for, she added. They truly feel alone in the world.

“One boy bought a ball for his therapy dog and something for his therapist. Some buy for a caseworker, anyone who supports them,” said Bennett. “We want to teach them how to care.”

A group from the RAC recently came out to Ryther for a tour, Bennett added: “They saw the kids’ cottages and noted our needs for athletic stuff and went right to work seeing what they could do.”

Nearly all of the wishes on the giving tree at the RAC have been satisfied, but there is an ongoing need for therapeutic foster parents. Training, licensing and a professional fee are given to qualified adults.

Bennett added that the Ryther Child Center is named after Olive Ryther, who granted the dying wish of a neighbor, asking, “Will you take care of my children?”

Ryther went on to befriend the children of prostitutes and other down-and-out adults along Seattle’s Waterfront and Red Light District, she said.

For more information about the Ryther Child Center, visit www.ryther.org.

For information about the Redmond Athletic Club, call (425) 883-4449 or visit www.therac.net.

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